Godless thoughts from god's country

About the author of Nastik Deliberations

Arun N M is active both online and offline in promoting scientific temper and fighting religious nonsense and pseudoscience. He is an MD, specialised in Internal Medicine and works in Kerala , India. He is most of the time aware of his privileges as a straight male, cis, upper caste medical doctor.

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EVENTS

Hindutva science and the cow

Hindutva forces currently running the central government in India is obsessed with cows. They worship not only cows but also its milk, urine and dung. But this love and worship is only for indigenously bred ones, not the “non Hindu” cows.

So it was not surprising to hear that several proposals for studies to “validate” “beneficial” effects of indigenous cow urine, milk and dung was discussed in a workshop organised by Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Scientists and medical experts floated 40 proposals, including setting up a “gau vigyan (cow science) university” and researching the “anti-cancer” properties of cow urine, at a workshop organised by the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi on Sunday.

The programme was aimed at instituting a national project to validate the health benefits of Panchgavya – a concoction prepared with cow urine, dung, milk, curd and ghee.

Image credit – HT

Professor VK Vijay, programme coordinator and head of the institute’s centre for rural development, said some of these projects will be approved by a steering committee.

Following that, they could receive funds from various government agencies such as the ministry of science and technology and the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Around 200 scientists, experts and students gathered to discuss the varied ways in which Panchgavya and related products can be used for rural development, medicinal purposes and food manufacture.

Professor RS Chauhan, who teaches pathology at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Uttarakhand, put forth a proposal to study the possible role of cow urine in enhancing immunity and treating cancer. “My research on the urine of four indigenous cattle breeds has revealed that it enhances immunity and kills cancer cells. However, we are yet to test its effects on humans,” he said.

Hemant Purohit, an expert from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute at Pune, said “a combination of ancient knowledge and modern science” will be taught at the gau vigyan university.

The workshop – titled ‘Scientific validation and research on Panchgavya’ – was backed by the Unnat Bharat Abhiyaan, a flagship scheme of the Human Resources and Science and Technology ministries.

It seems these “scientists” are convinced about the great benefits of excretory products from cows. Now they want modern science to somehow validate it. Of course it will be validated. How can science disprove divine “ancient knowledge” ?

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Comments

Sadly enough, yeah, it’s going to be validated. There’s no way anyone sets up something like this and will ever accept an answer of, “Sorry, it looks like we were wrong. It’s just regular milk and waste.”

I know it’s a rhetorical question, but: it’s a long-term study. If people eating cow shit and cow piss cured cancer, it would be a part of medical practice by now. And life-spans of its practitioners would be noticeably longer on average. Although that last point is tricky: it could be that privileged people who have access to better medical care are also the shit/piss eaters, and they might experience better long-term health outcomes as a consequence of the better medical care.

I raise dairy goats and yes, I understand dairy conformation is different from the beefy look of meat breeds. Nevertheless these cows look really awful, and if they are seriously considering getting milk from the poor things, they have GOT to FEED them. And most likely, treat them for internal parasites including coccidia.

If you want a “magical” ingredient, for animals or anything else, it’s FOOD. While we’re at it, living in the 21st century and having therefore the benefit of anthelmintics (wormers) and coccidiostats, we should be taking advantage of that knowledge and those products and USING them.

In the meantime, how someone could seriously suggest urine and feces as a way to fight cancer is beyond me. They do realize that if you have cancer cells in a petri dish, and you pour salt, or say, tequila, on them, it will kill the cells – right? That does not mean that drinking Margaritas cures cancer!